Slow Acceleration, stalling, jerking, more problems with 98 contour

[coolbrys]

I have a 98 Ford Contour with approximately 112,000 miles on it, timing belt replaced about a year and a half ago, along with a recent oil change. It's an automatic v4. I stopped driving it very often so I do not have any error codes, however, if it is that important, I can go get it.

I have a video showing some of the problems I'm having. It shows the vibration and funny noises coming from the engine. The car has also stalled at every stop sign on the way back from work, unless I put it into neutral as I go up to the stop sign/light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cUrC18ib2U

My question is pretty simple. If this is a common problem and can be easily fixed, I will do so and save myself the hassle of getting a new car. However, if the repair price would be more then $500 I'm just going to get a new car. My brother needs a car anyways, and he can just repair it.

If you need any more information just ask. I did search quite a bit to see if anyone else had the same problem but couldn't find much of anything.

Thanks.

 

[organizedinsanity]

Vibration, jerking, and stalling in gear are all symptoms which indicate that the engine is misfiring. I'd strongly recommend that you pull the check engine codes and post them on here so we can diagnose your problems better. When was the last time the car recieved a full tune up? If it has been a while or you do not know I'd replace the spark plugs, wires, air filter, fuel filter, and Pcv valve. Chances are that the previous items will solve your problems. Everything combined is less than $100.

 

[coolbrys]

Thanks for the advice. I have a few new updates. No place around here will do check engine light codes anymore, they all told me that "they can't do it anymore", for whatever that means. Including AutoZone. So unless I buy the reader itself I can't do that.

It also seems to have overheated enough to cause a leak in the coolant. I don't know if that's possible but I see no other way. It was full with coolant and fine up until today when I left work, and I noticed that it had all leaked out. So it's even another problem to worry about.

 

[getsum111]

Is there any smoke coming out exhaust? Overheating can blow head gasket, which could cause the misfire as coolant is leaking into combustion chamber. May want to rent a compression tester from Autozone. :shrug: